Hero

Chapter 22 - "I'd like to know what I'm worth, Justin."

“Rhylee, I–” I stopped as my eyes moved around, looking for something else to focus on – looking into her eyes was too hard – but I froze when I saw the silver Mercedes drive slowly away, in the direction of her house. It probably wasn’t unusual to see a Mercedes around here, but the license plate wasn’t; California. “Rhylee, please get in the car so we can talk.” I muttered.

“Justin, just get out of here. I’m home, you can leave now–”

“No, I can’t.” I hissed. “Please, get in the car so we can talk.”

She narrowed her eyes, skeptical, before deciding to just get in the car. She turned and walked towards the vehicle, snorting at the wheels on the sidewalk in judgment before hopping into the passenger side. I did the same, getting in the drivers. Once the door was closed, I looked into the rearview mirror, watching the silver car drive away slowly. Surely I was just being paranoid, right?

“What’s all this about, Justin?” She sighed, already tired of the conversation.

“Don’t panic, okay, but there was a car with California license plates…we’re in Colorado – do you know many people with California license plates in this neighborhood?”

She looked around and pointed out her window, “Blue car, three o’clock.” She replied, her voice dull with boredom.

With one glance, I cursed under my breath; she was right. Maybe I was just being paranoid. “Okay, fine. But still, we can’t be too careful, okay?”

She rolled her gold eyes at me and leaned back in the chair, “What do you want?”

“I want you to listen to me and give me a chance to explain myself.” The sight of her skeptical glance urged me to add; “I know words are cheap, but please, I’ll speak until I’m out of breath, I’ll beg until my knees bleed – just listen to what I have to say, okay?”

Silence filled the car then. Finally, after moments passed, Rhylee looked down to the floor and sat up a little straighter. Giving a brisk nod to me, she sniffed once more. “Fine…talk.”

Satisfied – as well as relieved – that she would listen, I thanked her with a small smile and looked out the wind shield, forming my sentences in my head. Where do I begin? How do I unscramble the words and letters in my head, forming coherent sentences?

“I was a male nurse at a hospital in California, just finished with school. I was happy with my work; slowly saving money to someday buy a house and move out of my roach-infested apartment,” – Rhylee’s nose wrinkled at this; I knew how much she hated roaches – “I was doing pretty well for myself. My parents were living in Ohio somewhere, sending the occasional e-mail. I was basically on my own.

“One day at lunch I met Brent Allen…you know him as Dr. Allen, or Devil’s Spawn, either one works perfectly fine.” I said this in an attempt to make her smile, but it didn’t work.

With a sigh, I continued, “Everyone said he was a good man – a life saver – who just wanted to sell his scientific work for the benefit of others. No one would give him a chance, though, since most of his drugs were based off illegal and addictive drugs. He was desperate, and would share his theory with anyone that would listen. And with me being the ignorant and foolish young-adult I was – and still am – gave him the chance to talk my ear off. Soon I was just like him; telling every doctor within ear radius about Dr. Brent Allen…

“Little did I know these were all the same doctors Brent had talked to, so they all knew everything about these drugs and had turned him down already… I was far more persistent then him, though, and I ran my mouth until they grew tired of me and fired me for pestering them. I didn’t know you could do that.” I added bitterly.